FIFA president nixes idea to sell stakes in World Cup to private equity investors

The president of World Cup organizer FIFA said Friday he’s nixing a much-criticized plan to sell stakes in soccer’s biggest tournament to private equity investors.

The plan to consolidate FIFA’s commercial and event operations into a new commercial subsidiary valued at $20 billion is off the table, FIFA President Gianni Infantino said in a statement.

Asia’s soccer body joined European and North American organizations in opposing it this week, with Europe’s soccer body saying it “will not participate in FIFA competitions” as a result of the plan.

FIFA initially responded by saying in a statement that “nobody is selling football.”

Later on Friday, Infantino said the plan was to strengthen such bodies, not divide world soccer.

“Having listened carefully to all the views, it has become clear that the project has created divisions of a nature that, regardless of the level of support, are no longer in the interest of the objective set out in the first place,” he said. “Our purpose has always been — and will always be — to unite and improve.”

The plan, called FIFA Forward Enterprise, inspired Carlos Cordeiro, a former Goldman Sachs banker and officially Infantino’s senior adviser, to resign.

“I cannot stand by while FIFA considers selling a stake in the World Cup,” he said in a statement.

Such a move would have provided a one-time payment of $20 million to each FIFA member federation. North America’s CONCACAF (Confederation of North, Central America and Caribbean Association Football) rejected it.

Infantino on Friday said his “intent is to bring all interested parties back together in the coming days and weeks in the spirit of shared interest in our game, and with the objective to continue growing football everywhere, particularly in those countries that mostly need our support.”